mismatched RAM

[newgeek]

I forgot to give out some info of my pc.

K7 Trinton 400
GA-7VAX
AMD Athlon XP 1800+
All-in-one Wonder 128 Pro Ultra AGP
512MB RAM, both PC2100 DDR
256MB of Kingston ValueRam and 256MB of Crucial
Harddrive-20GB, 60GB, even 250GB but have not used this one yet.
98SE and XP

I'm looking for about 1GB

So any of your suggestion will be greatly appreciated..

thanks

 

[newgeek]

My question is, do I have to still with the same brand?

 

[tool_462]

Though it is recommended to use the same brand, it is not required. If you use ValueRam it will usually be 100% stable if the RAM speeds and specs all match. I have mixed and matched many sticks of PC2100-PC2700-PC3200 value ram throughout my days and all worked fine. Dual Channel won't work well usually (from my experience) and I wouldn't recommend it. But I am assuming you dont have Dual Channel memory.

Nothing bad will happen to your computer if you have mismatched RAM. It will either not post, boot, or it may just be unstable. If that is the case, RMA the RAM and get a different brand.

 

[Mondoman]

Just a note that Dual Channel mode is a function of the MB's memory controller, not the specific RAM. While there is no such thing as "dual channel RAM", the controller will only enable dual chanel mode if identical sizes of RAM are in each channel (and often requires identical brands/models, too).

 

[sailer]

The answer here is, "It depends". Don't know what your motherboard is, the type or ram you're using (pc2100, 2700, 3200, etc) or much of anything else. At best, the new stick will run at the speed of the slowest stick that you have. At worst, it just won't work at all, and may not even allow the computer to run.

Ram is fairly cheap right now, so the best solution would be to either buy one stick of 1 gig, or two sticks of 512 mg that are matched. Be sure to figure out what teh best ram is that your motherboard will take when doing that, so you get the best performance for the money spent.

 

[newgeek]

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